Was shot that killed boy fired first?

Saturday

Aug 22, 2009 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - A man other than the one on trial for killing an innocent 13-year-old boy in a Louis Park shootout last year fired the first shot, a defense attorney told jurors Friday in closing arguments.

Scott Smith

STOCKTON - A man other than the one on trial for killing an innocent 13-year-old boy in a Louis Park shootout last year fired the first shot, a defense attorney told jurors Friday in closing arguments.

A bullet from a gun fired by Chanreasmey Prum, 23, killed Aaron Kelly Jr., but Prum was returning fire to rival gang member Jonathan Tellez Jr., San Joaquin County Deputy Public Defender Sam Behar said.

Placing the blame on Tellez, Behar wants jurors to find his client - a member of the Westside Bloods - guilty of a lesser charge than first-degree murder and keep him from spending the rest of his life in state prison.

Kelly was at the scenic park along the Stockton Deep Water Channel on Feb. 8, 2008, at a barbecue with friends and family when Prum approached them, ordering Tellez - who was among them - to leave. They all left in a caravan of cars.

Shots rang out, and one bullet struck Kelly, who rode in the front passenger seat of his mother's car. He died as she sped to the hospital. Tellez, a Norteņo gang member, testified in trial - and prosecutors maintain - that he fired back in response to Prum and three others.

Tellez is the son of a man Kelly's mother is dating. Tellez spent some time in jail after the shooting but is now out of custody.

In her arguments, San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Janet Smith called Prum a liar and a coward who confronted a group of women and children that day as he carried a loaded MAC-10 submachine gun and wore a mask.

She wants jurors to find Prum guilty of murder, attempted murder and acting on behalf of a criminal street gang, among other charges.

As proof that Tellez fired first, Behar read from the same jailhouse letters Prum wrote that prosecutors used to show the defendant has consistently lied and schemed out of desperation to beat the murder charge.

Prum sent Tellez a series of jailhouse letters, called kites, which inmates secretly tossed to each other from cell to cell. In the letters, Prum tried negotiating with Tellez so they could both beat the charges.

Behar said Prum believed the letters to Tellez were confidential, so in them Prum is telling the truth, despite his general lack of credibility. Tellez fired first, which the letters establish, Behar said.

"They're accurate. They're true," Behar told jurors. "Tellez was the first to shoot, and he caused the murder."